NEW YORK (AP) — Two writers who have been paid contributors to Fox News Channel have resigned, citing Tucker Carlson's “Patriot Purge” documentary on last January's U.S. Capitol insurrection as a last straw for them.
Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes, who put out a Substack newsletter on conservative news called The Dispatch, had both worked for Fox since 2009.
“The voices of the responsible are being drowned out by the irresponsible,” they wrote on their site. They did not immediately return messages from the Associated Press on Monday.
Fox had no comment on their criticisms. Carlson told The New York Times that their departure was great news. “Our viewers will be grateful,” he said.
“Patriot Purge” is a three-part documentary released last month on the Fox Nation streaming service. In it, Carlson argues that Jan. 6 is being used as a pretext for persecution of conservative Americans, and compared it to how falsehoods were used in the lead-up to the Iraq War.
Goldberg and Hayes called the documentary a collection of incoherent conspiracy-mongering, which is “riddled with factual inaccuracies, half-truths, deceptive imagery and damning omissions.”
They said it was the most egregious example of a long-term trend of opinion hosts amplifying the false claims and bizarre narratives of former President Donald Trump, while Fox's news side reports the truth.
“If a person with such a platform shares such misinformation loud enough and long enough, there are Americans who will believe — and act upon — it,” they wrote. “This isn't theoretical. This is what actually happened on January 6, 2021.”
The two writers haven't been on most of Fox's opinion shows lately. Their most recent appearances have largely been confined to being panelists on Bret Baier's news show or Chris Wallace's Sunday show.
David Bauder, The Associated Press
